R.I.P. Tony Curtis & Sally Menke

Sad news to wake up to this morning to read that Tony Curtis had passed away which followed on from the death of Sally Menke, Tarantino's editor earlier this week. Both extremely talented individuals in their own right who will be sorely missed.

Tony Curtis is someone who's work I wasn't too familiar with until I did my (500) Films of Empire challenge. Till that point the only Tony Curtis I really knew was the old, slightly senile, man in a wheelchair who would appear on The One Show and tell amusing rambling anecdotes of his time in Hollywood. Thanks to the challenge however, I got to see him give three terrific performances in Spartacus, Some Like It Hot, and his best ever role as Sidney Falco, a slimy, sycophantic press agent in Sweet Smell Of Success.

Sally Menke edited every single Tarantino film from Reservoir Dogs to Inglourious Basterds. She was probably more responsible than anyone for trying to reign in QT in terms of action and pacing and helped define his style as a writer/director. Together they were as important a director/editor team as Scorsese/Schoonmaker.

Tarantino's future films will have a different feel to them but we can be thankful for the ones we already have. Below is a video where QT talks about the importance of their collaboration and some more great "hello Sally's".